BikeSnobNYC

To follow BikeSnobNYC on Twitter or his blog, you gotta know the lingo. He's visiting Seattle for a BRA (book-related appearance), to promote The Enlightened Cyclist: Commuter Angst, Dangerous Drivers, and Other Obstacles on the Path to Two-Wheeled Transcendence (Chronicle, $16.95). And he'll be pedaling with fans on a group ride to the reading—departing from 20/20 Cycles at 5:30 p.m.—on his own folding bike, which is neither a Brompton nor a fixie nor made of "crabon fiber." During that leisurely ride, the perennially nonplussed blogger also known as Eben Weiss will chat with followers, take lots of photos of bicycle infrastructure (as seen at bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com), look for unusual cockpits (the handlebars and shifters), discourage speeding among the Freds (weekend racers), perhaps consume an "epic burrito," and decry any signs of smugness among his peloton. Snob, as he's sometimes called, is all about the ever-keener edge of judgment: The more minor the distinctions among cyclists (SRAM Red or Dura-Ace? Bamboo or titanium? This Schleck brother or the other Schleck brother?), the more ridiculous their debates. Because, as his satire reminds us, the only thing worse than hearing bicyclists complaining about motorists—and vice versa—is bicyclists complaining about fellow members of their tribe. BRIAN MILLER